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#1 Gift Everyone Wants

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (C)

In this past weekend’s Gospel, the rich man lives only for himself. It is not mentioned that he is evil in any other way. He lives in luxury and dines sumptuously each day. He is so absorbed in satisfying himself that he doesn’t even notice Lazarus starving at his door. The Gospel doesn’t say that Lazarus asked the rich man for anything, he just sat at his door unnoticed. The self indulgence of the rich man will have eternal consequences.

Was Lazarus being unjust by sitting at the door of the rich man?

The rich man had an abundance of something Lazarus needed, food. Lazarus longed just for the scraps that fell from his table. I recently heard a conversation on the radio in which the host and his guests were talking about how troublesome beggars are. They said, “There should be a law against them. Why can’t they just find a job?”

It might be convenient if we did not have to be bothered with such things, but life is more complicated than that. The point of this Gospel is that, we cannot just live for ourselves. We must be aware of the needs of others, and this is not only about food and shelter and clothing. We all have something that someone else needs and we will never develop spiritually until we share from what we have been given.

What is needed for our own happiness?

First of all we must give God His due, not because He needs it, but because it is necessary for our own happiness. We are created to be in a charitable relationship with God and each other. There will always be disorder in our lives until we love the Lord Our God with all our mind, heart soul and strength. When we are connected to God by faith and in prayer He will guide us to make right choices.

No matter whether we are rich or poor we all have 24 hours each day and sometimes the best gift we can share is our time. First of all we must spend time in prayer each day to be connected to God and His guidance. After God, comes the people who are most important to you; your spouse, your children, parents, family members. We are obliged to share quality time with the people who depend on us. Lack of quality time destroys relationships.

Why are our gifts are so important?

Our faith community also needs for us to share from our time, talent and treasure. In baptism, we all have been given gifts by God which can only be discovered by being formed in our faith and participating in our faith community. These gifts are not for our own use only, but are meant to build up the Body of Christ, which is His Church. If we fail to contribute to our faith community in a significant way we are stifling our spiritual growth as well as that of our faith community.

One of the greatest gifts we have been given is the gift of faith because it makes it possible for us to have an intimate, personal relationship with God. This gift is only of benefit to us if we develop it, live it and share it. As our faith transforms us, we are expected to be an instrument of transformation for society. St. John Chrysostom once said: “There is no one colder than a Christian who is uninterested in the salvation of others.” When we stand before God, none of us will have an excuse for not sharing from what we have received.

Why can’t we do what we have always done?

It is natural for us to want to live just for ourselves like the rich man in the Gospel, even if we aren’t rich. However, God entered into the world in the person of Jesus Christ to radically change the possibilities of life on earth. That’s why we all must be converted to a new way of thinking and living by accepting the truths of the Gospel and turning away from sin. This conversion is possible only if it is the desire of our hearts and we ask God for the grace to make the changes we know we must make. Conversion is a daily process that is necessary for us so that we can grow in virtue and become spiritually mature.

Conversion is not only necessary for our salvation, it is also necessary for true happiness and peace right now. The Lord has a great plan for us and He has given us His Church to help us live that plan. There is great joy in drawing close to God and believing, living and sharing the truths He has revealed. After all, it is our purpose for being on this earth. Faith is a gift from God, but believing is a choice.

We enjoy sharing the gift of God with others and one of the special ways that the Pilgrim Center of Hope can achieve this is through our weekly television and radio series, Catholicism Live! Tune-in every Tuesday from 11 – 12 pm CST. You can watch us on Catholic Television of San Antonio via Time Warner Cable channel 15 or via the CTSA Facebook Page! Submit your questions and comments during the show on Facebook or anytime at CatholicismLive.com. We pray that all people accept the gift of faith and believe.

About Deacon Tom Fox

Deacon Tom Fox is the co-founder of The Pilgrim Center of Hope.
The Pilgrim Log is the blog of the Pilgrim Center of Hope, a Catholic evangelization ministry, providing weekly spiritual reflections to help you journey toward a deeper relationship with Christ. Learn more about the Pilgrim Center of Hope by visiting www.pilgrimcenterofhope.org.

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Conversion is growth. It is change. Like a tree. We cannot consider ourselves truly converted unless we are growing in faith. Remember when Our Lord talked about faith the size of a mustard seed. He did not mean for the seed to remain always a seed. Consider how all of nature around us changes. Even the mountain of granite. Its changes are imperceptible, but they are there. If we are unwilling to change, our faith will wither, and eventually die. God calls us to Life–abundant life in Himself. That is why we must always be reaching toward the Light–like a tree.